Kusum and Pyara were 18 months apart and the only two children of a fruit seller and his wife. Pyarawas considered the prettier one because her skin was lighter, but Kusum had a voice so unusual that people stopped on the street to listen. The neighbours, whenever it rained or when they were planning a wedding or on Victory Day, would ask her parents if they might borrow Kusum and her voice, and her parents always said yes. One morning, when she accompanied her father to the wholesaler in New Market to pick up his load for the day, the owner of the warehouse said he had heard that Kusum had an unusual talent. Would she sing for him?
Kusum did not want to sing for this man, but her father owed him some money, so he instructed her to do as she was told. As soon as she opened her mouth, the man began to cry. He sobbed through her rendition of a folk tune, andthen he requested a love song, and then he asked if sheknew a particular poem from his village – she did – and by the time she was finished, he had forgiven her father’s debt,and a…
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